Letters

See Bill Run
Regarding Ward Harkavy's "Making Book on Bill Owens," in the August 6 issue:
Okay, okay! I surrender! If I promise to vote for anyone other than Bill Owens, will you quit writing is-he-or-isn't-he stories about Owens's supposed ties to the religious right? The only thing more boring than reading a story about Owens is reading a boring story about why Gail Schoettler is boring.

Amy Frankel
via the Internet

Bill Owens, Republican candidate for governor, is certainly causing the local right-wing propaganda machine to go into emergency spin control. Owens, ardent supporter of the war in Vietnam, managed to forget how he avoided--for three years--actually going there. According to Mike Rosen and other conservative flacks, Bill Clinton, who actively and publicly opposed the war and secured a college draft deferment, is a cowardly draft dodger; Owens, on the other hand, who supported the war at least to the extent of red, white and blue armbands while enjoying the safety of his own legal college deferment, is portrayed as patriotic but somewhat forgetful. Owens, already busy with some fancy footwork tapping out the Pat Miller Backstep, ought to provide some much-to-be-desired comic relief to what otherwise promises to be a depressingly dull campaign.

Seva Mock
via the Internet

Your article on Bill Owens states that evangelical Christians brandish their Bibles against homosexuals.

Leviticus 18 seems to be directed to a heterosexual male Jew who must not commit incest with close female relatives. No homosexual male has to be told not to have sex with female family members. The heterosexual male Jew is also told not to sleep with a beast, and female Jews are told the same thing. The female Jew is not told to avoid lesbianism. The Ten Commandments are for both sexes, though.

Matthew 7:1 says Judge not lest ye be judged. It's easier for people to judge others and forget what they're guilty of.

Name withheld on request

It's me, Whistle-Blowing John once again! I just mailed off Ward Harkavy's hate article to Bill Owens so he will see for himself what derogatory things you had to say about him. And he already knows how you feel about him, because I mailed your other hate article about him to his office months ago. He read it and sent me a letter, thanking me for alerting him. Since you made derogatory remarks about Barry Arrington and Pat Miller, I am also sending a copy to them in care of Pat Miller, who is a member of Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada.

John the Whistle-blower strikes again!
John Bales
Boulder

Bright, Shining Lies
Regarding Alan Prendergast's "Fortress of Solitude," in the August 6 issue:
You forgot the new Gilpin County Courthouse. It opened last year just in time for juror Laura Kriho's show trial for voting her conscience and features really odd public art: a sculpture of three buckin' donkeys, said to represent Laura's two judges and prosecutor. The sheriff up there ignored the (nonfatal) hanging of a black man, too. Gilpin, smallest county in Colorado; justice by the smallest minds and biggest asses. Let's hear how Laura's appeal in Denver this week goes.

Evan Ravitz
via the Internet

Always on Guard
I read Eric Dexheimer's July 23 article "Used and Abused," and the apathy of Arapahoe House West management toward employee safety is criminal.

My first question to the misguided Lorrie Laroe [a counselor at Arapahoe House Inc., whose letter about the story was printed in the July 30 issue]: Did you ever work with the three ladies who told their stories in the July 23 article? If not, you should reserve judgment until you walk in their shoes. Second question: Could it be the poor pay and/or the unsafe working environment that led the ladies to end their employment with Arapahoe House?

Lorrie Laroe comes across as a prospective manager who does not want to stroke her superiors the wrong way. However, judging by her letter, maybe she is trying to stroke the powers that be any way she can.

Lorrie, wake up--and do not forget that one day you could be the victim of a poor working environment.

Kem K. Molet
Northglenn

Connect the Plots
Congratulations on yet another ballyhooed jaunt into the wastewaters of yellow journalism. Megan Hall's August 6 "Crossed Wires," about US West's purported victimization of an innocent, maltreated customer, is typical of your lack of journalistic integrity. With your so-called news stories, there's always a finger to point, always a corporate/governmental conspirator to blame.

I'd like to know exactly how "writer" Megan Hall concluded that US West was at fault for Anna Croteau's errantly processed check. Denver Municipal Federal Credit Union would never have attempted to pay $11,630.01 had the check indicated a different amount. Either the credit union and US West made the same accounting error, or Ms. Croteau mistakenly wrote the check for that amount. The only alternative is that Ms. Hall is trying to delude us into believing that someone at US West committed fraud. The conclusions at which Ms. Hall arrives require a phenomenal leap in reasoning and lack any supporting information. Your article borders on libel, but Westword has never allowed truth to stand in the way of a good story. Megan Hall's article lacks development and arrives at a convoluted insinuation that US West is to blame for what the average, reasonable person would conclude was probably a simple mistake on Ms. Croteau's part.

I find it ironic that the Westword staff would publish yet another article misrepresenting the truth in the same issue in which it admits to misstating the legal status of an NLRB complaint against Maintenance Unlimited, Inc.

It's humorous to note that Westword reserves the right to edit letters "for libel, length and clarity." It should apply the same criteria to its articles.

Brandon Zupancic
via the Internet

Editor's note: For the next installment in the Maintenance Unlimited saga--which started with Stuart Steers's July 23 story "Janitors in a Conundrum" and continued with a judge last week finding that the company had indeed violated the National Labor Relations Act--see this week's Off Limits.

Don't Touch That Dial!
Thank you so much for printing the July 30 letter from the TCI representative, responding to your July 9 Off Limits item. It is so nice to hear the vampire's opinion while it's sucking on your neck. And a few lies can easily be slipped into a few truths.

TCI was granted a monopoly years ago, when it was not feasible for multiple companies to put up cable TV lines that consumers could choose from. And for that, TCI is now a giant with giant buying power.

The upgrading is now more prominent in the Polo Grounds and Circle Drive than at 35th and Federal. Digital cable is more prominent in new homes than older. That is to be expected.

As for better products and service, when has your cost gone down?
And TCI lies about adding Comedy Central and WGN. TCI had them and dropped them. All of a sudden they "add" them. Go figure. And, yes, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week you can get a recorded message from TCI when you call them--if the line is not busy.

Location, Location, Location
Get real, guys. It looks like Westword's been taking too many tips from the Web industry. Your investigative reporting is lacking as much direction as MapQuest's maps. Regarding the July 30 Off Limits, I believe your data is a little out of date. Yahoo dropped MapBlast (Vicinity Corp., http://www.vicinity.com) several months ago. They replaced the service with--you guessed it--MapQuest.

Considering that MapQuest is located just down the street from your office, at 1730 Blake Street, I can't imagine it too far of a stretch for you to confirm your data. If you can't afford the local phone charges, your writers could at least stop by on the way back from Starbucks.

If you're going to self-righteously slam local businesses, spend the time getting the good dirt. There's plenty to go around.

Craig Willis
via the Internet

Editor's note: "Months" ago? Maybe, but Yahoo was still linked to MapBlast last month. As for MapQuest, it's always been an excellent site. But our LoDo neighbors should know that the college at Evans and University is not the "University of Colorado-Denver," as MapQuest was labeling it earlier this week. It's the University of Denver--and it's just down the street from a Starbucks. CU-Denver is at Auraria, remember?

I always found her opinionated style and musical knowledge to be entertaining. It is unfortunate that her ability to pull no punches and express her opinion may have been her demise at KTCL, for it is these qualities that I found appealing. Her knowledge of current and especially older "alternative" music was surpassed by no one I've heard lately.

KTCL officials have done themselves and their listeners a disservice by letting Caroline go. I will no longer support such a station. I would hope that others have turned away from KTCL and mailed their "Team Adventure Card" back to the station, as I have.

Robert Carney
via the Internet

The Clash of Symbols
I am writing in response to Michael Roberts's July 9 review of Rancid's Life Won't Wait. Roberts is entitled to his own opinion, which is fine, but I think his review was rather snobbish. "Back in 1978, when this band was called the Clash and this album was called Give 'Em Enough Rope..."--I think that section was uncalled for. So what if they sound like the Clash? That's not a bad thing at all. The Clash were great. Most punk bands that are around now wouldn't exist if it weren't for the Clash. Also, saying that Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Topper Hendon and Paul Simonon are now known as Tim Armstrong, Lars Fredrikson, Matt Freeman and Brett Reed is just fucked up. I think calling "Bloodclot" a "raveup/football chant" is out of line. The "hey-ho"s were provided by Marky Ramone of the Ramones, who are legends and the originators of today's punk sound. I don't think Rancid is accessible enough for any of the band's songs to be a "raveup/football chant." I think they "upped their originality quotient" considerably with this record.

(P.S. At least Rancid is fighting racism rather than writing closed-minded reviews of CDs.)

Lee Pietrus
Denver

The Power and the Glory
Your Glory series rules! Too bad you haven't been printing the pictures in the paper as well as putting them on the Web. Everyone should see this!

Death to Beanie Babies!
Joe Haker
via the Internet

The July 30 addition to your Beanie Baby brutalization was extremely out of line ("Bound--and Gagged--for Glory," at www.westword.com). While your site generally provides entertainment/humor for adults, in this particular case (because you are using a very popular toy), you have children as young as seven and eight following along. Your article about torturing Glory was already teetering on tasteless at some moments but was nonetheless quite funny at others, even to children. Your series has been linked to many of the popular Beanie Baby sites, and therefore is accessed by many children.

While I'm quite sure that you intended this series to be targeted for adults from the beginning, it is negligent of you to not realize that this market is mostly made up of children. When I checked out your "Gory, Glory" this morning for further developments, I was appalled by the language, the theme, the photos, the reference to the adult-merchandise store. Do you have any idea how many children will also be checking this out?

I do realize that "shock factor" is one of the main attributes of your paper's site in general and do not oppose this when being viewed by the audience it is intended for--adults. I think that you should seriously consider redoing the current installment in the Glory series. You have stepped far over the boundary on this one, given the viewing audience. Your writers were irresponsible on this one. It is your responsibility to present what is appropriate for what you have started with "Gory, Glory."

Lisa
via the Internet

Editor's note: Don't worry, the fun's almost over. Watch our Beanie Baby go out in a blaze of Glory on www.westword.com.

Letters policy: Westword wants to hear from you, whether you have a complaint or compliment about what we write from week to week. Letters should be no more than 200 words; we reserve the right to edit for libel, length and clarity. Although we'll occasionally withhold an author's name on request, all letters must include your name, address and telephone number. Write to: